Scientists create movies of Calif. quake By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060705/ap_on_hi_te/earthquake_movies_1 PASADENA, Calif. - The next time an earthquake hits Southern California, go online later that day to watch a 3-D rendition of it. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology can now create a movie just 45 minutes after a temblor, showing how seismic waves spread from the epicenter. During a recent demonstration, the director of Caltech's Seismological Laboratory, Jeroen Tromp, played a movie of the 2003 magnitude-5.1 Big Bear quake. The movie featured a 3-D map of Southern California with color-coded waves radiating from Big Bear in San Bernardino County and slowing down as they hit the Los Angeles basin, shaking the area like gelatin. The public can access movies for Southern California temblors of magnitude 3.5 and higher at http://shakemovie.caltech.edu dating back to 1999. The information could help Southern California residents better understand how temblors behave and whether they will be affected by the ground shaking. The seismic movies, based on simulations made by the university's new 2,048-processor supercomputer, are the latest high-tech tools available to the public after a temblor. Last year, the U.S. Geological Survey unveiled an online forecast that calculates the probability of aftershocks at specific locations over a 24-hour period. Before that, the agency created ShakeMaps, computer maps that show areas of intense shaking. Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
